Fun letters alphabet

50 Simple Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers

You are here: Home / Activities / Learning / Literacy & ABCs / 50 Simple & Fun Alphabet Activities for Preschoolers

23 Dec

Literacy & ABCs
PopularPreschoolersABCs
Letter Sounds
Letters
Lowercase Letters
Resources82 Comments

It’s almost time for back to school for preschool and kindergarten kids and these alphabet activities will come in handy!

How do you teach the alphabet to preschoolers?!

As a preschooler, I don’t really think a lot is expected for them to know. Some basics are good though, like colors, shapes, numbers and letters.

To refresh my preschooler’s memory of letter recognition in general, as well as knowing the uppercase and lowercase alphabet and getting to know some of the letters sounds, I’ve been collecting ideas for activities that Henry can do to get him back on track of school. (Check some more out my ABC Learning & More Pinterest Board. )

Not to mention it’ll be great to get me back into school mode too!

With any learning activities, it’s very important to not crush your child’s confidence. Build on what they already know and expand slowly. And only go further when they’re excited to learn.

We want our kids to love learning! Not dread it.

So if they’re not excited about an activity, put it away until another day.

The big question then is…

How do you teach alphabets to preschoolers in a fun way?

Here are 50 alphabet activities meant for preschoolers that do just that.

Hands-on activities that have the preschoolers playing and involving their entire body while learning their ABCs.

Without them even realizing that they’re learning to recognize the letters of the alphabet, both the upper and lower case… or their letter sounds.

Let’s get on with it and see how to teach the alphabet to preschoolers in a fun way!

Recognizing Letters of the Alphabet

Identifying the letters of the alphabet can be a fun activity for preschoolers to learn while playing!

Here are

25 Alphabet activities to recognize the letters of the alphabet.

An ABC Mat is super handy to have on hand when your child is learning the alphabet! Try an active ABC mat learning game to get them really involved!
By singing the ABCs the child can find his way through an alphabet maze! Use vehicles or a ball, or even a doll to walk their way through the maze.
Squirt the Letter.
Make learning magical with magic letters that the kids reveal as they paint over them.
Do a letter search and find and match the pieces back together. (Little Hands, Big Work)
Make a sensory bag to find the letters.
Get creative and have her feed the monster letters as you call them out. (Little Family Fun)
Use sticker letters to match to letters that you write on a paper towel tube! (Activity Mom)
Make letters from pipe cleaners. (Make and Takes)
Have fun stacking letter tiles! The catch? Name the letter before you can add it to your tower! (Stay At Home Educator)
Try a magic trick like Playdough to Plato does with a ABC cup hunt game! Which one is the pom pom under?
Find the letter and trash it! A fun idea from Motherhood on a Dime.
Playing House does a bean bag toss into a letter tub that you call out.
An activity twist on musical chairs, play musical alphabet with your preschooler and identify the letter you stop on! Kids Activities can make this more difficult for older kids too!
Fish for Letters from First Palette. Can you identify your ‘catch’?
Letter “I Spy” with Grown Up Board Games from A Heart for Home.
Make these simple ‘building blocks’ so your child can build a letter and then tell you what it is! (Simple Real Moms)
Write the alphabet on the sidewalk and water the ‘garden’. (Toddler Approved)
Magnetic letters matching from NutureStore make great alphabet games!
Simply make it a race! Lay out some letter cards and shout out a letter, have your child run as fast as they can to find it and bring it back to you. (Frugal Fun 4 Boys)
A classic from my childhood. When in the car and traveling, do an alphabet hunt. (Teach Mama)
Let the children play on a typewriter, or old computer keyboard. (picklebums)
NurtureStore reinforces alphabet identification by baking the alphabet.
Another use for the ABC Mat is to play twister! (Mothergoose Club)
Homemade letter sponges for the bath from Learning 4 Kids are a fun learning addition to bath time!

Additionally, these products are excellent to have on hand when learning letters.

These do include my affiliate link that helps to support Hands On As We Grow® at no additional cost to you if you purchase. We truly appreciate the support, thank you.

Alphabet Foam Puzzle Mat
Foam Bath Letters & Numbers
Large Wooden ABC 26-piece Puzzle
Melissa & Doug Classic ABC Block Cart
Alphabet Fun Flash Cards
LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet Set

These provide amazing opportunities for letter or alphabet games and activities to do at home!

Learning Uppercase & Lowercase Letters

Lowercase letters tend to be harder for preschoolers to identify as well as match up with their uppercase counterparts.

Here are 9 alphabet activities to help preschoolers distinguish between upper and lower case letters.

Got on a letter hunt and match the found letters to a set of lowercase letters!
Match uppercase and lowercase hearts using a free printable.
Write lowercase letters on clothespins and have your child match and clip them onto an uppercase letter that’s printed (or written) out. (I Can Teach My Child)
Bring out the Easter Eggs. Label each side with corresponding upper and lowercase letters! Can your child put the eggs back together? (Teachers Pay Teachers)
Learn letters on the go with two paper plates, one with lowercase, one with uppercase letters. No Time for Flash Cards has the how to.
Make learning the ABCs a big event! Turn the floor into a mega doodle of letters and then match corresponding letters to it! (Filth Wizardry)
Match upper and lowercase letters on the sidewalk.
Practice writing while also learning both upper and lowercase letters by using a tray of salt. (Teach Preschool)
Play a game of alphabet bingo. (Teach Mama)

Letter Sound Activities

Many of the activities for preschoolers that are listed for recognizing the letters of the alphabet can also be adjusted for learning the sounds of the letters too!

Here are 16 alphabet activities for preschoolers to work on the sounds of the letters!

Go on a hunt for toys that start with the letters and then got to punch through for a prize in our letter sound punch alphabet game.
Make an alphabet game to sort by beginning letter sounds.
An active way for the kids to learn their letters is simply with a ball and shouting out words that start with a letter! The Pleasantest Thing gives us many variations of this alphabet game in her guest post!
Take learning outside with a sidewalk letter sound scavenger hunt like No Time for Flashcards.
Another version of this would be to spray the letter that makes the sound from Train Up a Child.
Indoors, set out some cups and letters on them and have the kids find as many toys as they can that start with each letter. (PreKinders)
Simple. Kids love to pretend to ‘work’. Give them tees and a hammer and pound the sound idea from ABCs of Literacy.
Add letters to muffin tins and toss a small object. Where it lands the child has to tell you what sound that letter makes. This idea’s found at ABC & Learning by Playdough to Plato.
Do a beginning letter sound toy wash!
Climb up the stairs when you get the right letter sound from A Mom with a Lesson Plan.
Make a collage from magazine cutouts for letter sounds. (Carrots are Orange)
Get active with a letter sound jumping game from The Imagination Tree.
A Run N Spell alphabet game from Having Fun At Home gets the kids moving and learning starting letter sounds.
“Baking” the Alphabet on a hot day from Not Just Cute. Hungry for a banana? Fill up the letter b-b-b-B!
Alphabet bowling with letter pins from Toddler Approved
Use letter pops (sticks with a letter on the end) to have the kids identify objects from around the room or house that start with the same letter. (Dr. Jean & Friends)
Match toys to letters with this hands-on sound activity from No Time For Flash Cards

Fantastic books for learning ABCs:

Supplement these learning activities with books and your preschooler will be singing, reciting, spelling and sounding out the ABCs in no time I bet!

Alphabet Book (Farmyard Tales Books Series)
Alphabet Rescue
Alphabet Mystery
Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book!
I Spy Letters

I’d love to know.

When was your child able to identify some letters of the alphabet?

Henry learned his alphabet really early it seemed. Identifying a few letters when he was 20 months old and knowing almost the entire alphabet when he was just over 2 years old.

George on the other hand has no interest yet at 22 months so it’s not on our radar.

If you have an eager early learner, these beginning learning letter activities are perfect for toddlers!

Onto numbers! 40 number activities for preschoolers too!

About Jamie Reimer

Jamie learned to be a hands on mom by creating activities, crafts and art projects for her three boys to do. Jamie needed the creative outlet that activities provided to get through the early years of parenting with a smile! Follow Jamie on Pinterest and Instagram!

Reader Interactions

26 Easy, Fun Alphabet Activities That Give Kids the Practice They Need

Alphabet activities make learning your ABCs more fun. There are so many ways to practice your ABCs, you might be able to do one alphabet activity a day for a year without repeating. We’ve gathered over 25 super fun alphabet activities so kids can play and learn every day.

1. Write letters on dried beans

Large dried white beans are inexpensive to purchase and easy to write on. Grab a sharpie and write all the upper and lower case letters on them. Then put each set in a pile (or baggie) and ask your kids to match them.

2. Letter sort with sticky notes

Write individual letters on sticky notes and then place them all over your house or just on every stair in a staircase. This practice game has a lot of variations—all tied to sorting. Ask kids to sort by:

lowercase
uppercase
letters in their name
straight lines (H)
curved lines (c)
both curved and straight lines (B)
consonants
vowels

For even more practice: have them sort their finds into ABC order, match lowercase letters to uppercase letters, and then, find a way to sort them that’s new.

3. Write letters in shaving cream

Squirt shaving cream on a table and let your kids write letters in the cream. Smoothe it out to erase and start again. Bonus: their hands and your table will be cleaner than ever!

Source: Rose and Rex

4. Bend letters with pipe cleaners

Pipe cleaners have always been a trusted source of good fine motor practice as well as a fun craft resource. Now use them to have kids create uppercase and lower case letters.

Learn more: make and takes

5.

Make sensory ABC bags

This one is great because you can change up what you put in here and even move to sight words. You’ll need a gallon bag with a ziplock top. Add letters written on pieces of paper, magnetic letters, scrabble tiles, or anything else you can think of with letters. Then fill the bag with rice or oatmeal and seal it. Kids dig through the rice through the bag to find the letters. When they find them, they write down the letter they find until they locate all 26 letters of the alphabet.

For more sensory ideas: Little Bins Little Hands

6. Find invisible letters with watercolors

This is a classic. Using a white crayon, draw letters on a piece of white paper. Give your kids watercolor, let them paint the paper, and watch the letters appear.

Learn more: Gift of Curiosity

7. Play musical alphabet

Set up letters in a big circle on the floor. You can use magnetic letters or just write them on index cards. Put music on and have your child walk around the circle to the music. When the music goes off, your child tells you the closest letter. Expand on it: ask your child to name three things (colors, animals, etc) that start with that letter.

8. Sponge the alphabet

Cut sponges into letters and use them for sponge painting letters or playing in the tub.

Learn more: Learning 4 Kids

9. Put together name puzzles

Write the upper and lower case letters in a name and then cut them apart in a simple zigzag. Mix up the letters and ask a child to match them up and put them in the right order.

10. Make letters from nature

Find the alphabet right outside. Choose natural objects that already look like letters, or arrange them to look like them.

To learn more: Right Brained Mom

11. Eat your ABCs

We know from Alphabet Soup that eating your ABCs is plain old fun. So think of all the ways you can practice the alphabet at mealtime. Pancakes can be made into letters, jello can be cut into letters, and noodles can be used to make letters (just to name a few).

Learn more: Parent Map

12. Go on an alphabet scavenger hunt

The fun part about this for grown-ups is that there is no prep. Tell kids to go find objects that start with each letter of the alphabet. To make this game take longer, designate spots for them to bring each item back—one at a time. Every item must be approved before they can move on to the next. This allows for fewer meltdowns at the end when an item is deemed inaccurate.

13. Make your own ABC book

Personalizing the ABCs helps kids process and retain their learning. One of our favorite alphabet activities starts by creating a book out of 26 pieces of paper and staples or hole punches and a ribbon. Have kids write an uppercase and lowercase letter on each page. Finally, have them draw or cut out pictures of things that start with each letter. Voila!

Learn more: Teach Mama

14.

Create ABC popup books

Use the following tutorial video to learn how to make different kinds of pop up pages. Then, create a page per week for 26 weeks for each letter. At the end, use a glue stick to glue them all together to make an ABC popup book!

15. Stamp letters in playdough

Roll out playdough and push letter stamps right into the dough. This is both tactile and great for practicing ABCs.

Learn more: I can teach my child

16. Make tactile letter cards

There’s lots of research (and experience) to support the value of using all the senses to learn. Making these tactile alphabet cards will be fun and have lasting benefits.

Learn more: All About Learning

17. Trace letters in spices

This one combines touch, smell, and sight. It gives you an opportunity to talk about what we uses spices for as well. Put the bottle in front of a child and have them write the spice name in the spice to make things a bit more challenging.

Source: Frog in a Pocket

18. Study a letter of the week

Many PreK and Kindergarten classes do a letter of the week, and for good reason. Teachers all share that instant recognition of letters and practice writing them is so important for learning to read. Doing alphabet activities for one letter each week reinforces knowledge and recollection.

For weekly activities: Preschool Mom

19. Do the yoga alphabet

Show kids this video and take the time to learn each yoga pose. Connecting the mind and the body is great for learning.

20. Sing songs about the alphabet

Everyone loves to sing the alphabet song, but did you know there are lots of other songs to sing that can help you remember the alphabet? Try out this Sesame Street favorite:

21. Draw pictures from letters

Using letters as a starting point, teach kids how to draw. If this is too difficult at first, just write a letter and then draw a picture around the letter.

Learn more: Felt Magnet

22. Highlight letters on a page

Print a page of text or grab your favorite magazine and a highlighter. Ask kids to highlight as many of one letter as they can find. This is also great for sight word recognition.

Here’s a freebie from The Inspired Apple to get you started.

23. Do-A-Dot letter tracing

These dot markers make tracing letters more fun and help kids with directionality and remembering how to write and recognize letters.

Free Dot tracing sheets: DTLK’s Educational Activities for Kids

24. Play letter slap

Make 2 sets of index cards with all the letters on them (52 cards in all). Shuffle the cards together and deal them so each kid holds 26 cards. Together each player takes their top card and turns it upright. The player with the letter closest to A wins the hand and takes the card. If two of the same letter are played, the players slap the card. The one on the bottom of the slip wins the hand. The game ends when one player holds all the cards.

25. Match plastic Easter egg letters

Surely you have some plastic Easter eggs hanging around your attic. Use a Sharpie or letter stickers to put an uppercase letter on one half and a lowercase letter on the other. Then separate the two and throw them all in a basket. Kids pull them out and match them up. Tip: Add difficulty by not coordinating the colors.

Learn more: Crystal and Co.

26. Create loose part letters

What are loose parts? Loose parts are exactly what they sound like—a collection of loose materials or objects. These can be small pebbles, bottle caps, random LEGO bricks, seeds, keys, anything. Draw big letters on a piece of paper and have kids line up loose parts to make the letter.

Recognizing letters is a fundamental part of learning how to read. Without it, children struggle to learn letter sounds and identify words. Beginning readers who know their alphabet have a much easier time learning to read. Making alphabet practice a part of every day in fun ways helps create a lifelong love for letters and words.

What games and activities do you like to use for practicing the alphabet?

Plus, our favorite activities using alphabet beads and the best alphabet books.

Funny Letters - Megaboo - Children's Toy Marketplace

1. Edible Letters

You can buy or bake little letter shaped cookies or buy colorful macarons for kids that are fun to make letters. However, you can make an alphabet from almost any product. The main thing is to connect fantasy and imagination. Vegetables, fruits, herbs - all this can be easily used for the "edible" alphabet.
___________________________________
2. Classics

We all remember how we played hopscotch as children. Invite the baby to play too. But write letters instead of numbers. First pronounce the letter, and then jump into the square and so on until the end. Believe me, such fun will be to the liking of the child. He will learn new letters with interest, jumping from one square to another.
___________________________________
3. Computer keyboard

Surely every home has a computer and a keyboard. Every kid loves to push buttons. So use this: open a document on the computer screen and let the baby click on the letters that will be immediately displayed before his eyes. nine0005 ___________________________________
4. Everything at hand

You can use sea pebbles or balloons to study the letters. Write the letters of the alphabet on them and study. Let each letter be colorful and cheerful, then the baby will not be bored repeating them.
___________________________________
5. Plasticine letters

Buy plasticine or make salt dough. It is very easy to sculpt letters from these materials. In addition to the fact that the child will play and memorize the alphabet, he will develop fine motor skills of the hands, which has a positive effect on the child's speech. nine0005 ___________________________________
6. Letters on a walk

Walking with your baby on the street, you can show him the letters on brochures, shop windows, cars and so on. Demonstrate to your child that letters can be found anywhere, which is why you need to know them. Look at how the baby will rejoice when he sees a familiar letter somewhere.
___________________________________
7. Constructor

Buy a constructor for your child and use its parts to construct letters together. The main thing is that the details are colored, and there are a lot of them. nine0005 ___________________________________
8. Letters on the wall

Cut letters out of different colored cardboard and stick double tape to them. Hang old wallpaper or a drawing board on the wall in the baby's room so that the child can stick letters on them and pronounce them.
___________________________________
9. Album for letters

Make a small album. In it, place cards with letters and pictures that will match each letter. For example, “O” is a cloud, “F” is a giraffe, “M” is a monkey, and so on. Let the child select for each letter he knows a drawing that begins with that letter. nine0005 ___________________________________
10. Fun games

After you have created an alphabet from various materials, plasticine, edible, painted letters can play, jump, fly. Friendship between them will help the baby to master first syllables, and then whole words.

Do not forget that new knowledge presented to a child in a playful way will be absorbed by him much easier and faster. Yes, and parents are not so bored. We wish you and your child a fun and effective learning experience! nine0003

Cheerful alphabet - Teacher's newspaper

Amendments The Federal Law of December 29, 2012 No. 273-FZ "On Education in the Russian Federation" tells us that the working program of education is a mandatory component of the main educational program of preschool education.

Modern requirements for the level of preschool education are inextricably linked with upbringing. By spending time in groups, children do not just gain knowledge, they develop their personal potential through the achievement of educational goals. The formation of a holistic picture of the knowledge of the world occurs in conjunction with the built up strategy of education. The emotional component of the working program of education receives a response from children, which contributes to the most effective cognitive development. nine0003

Child development involves learning from a very young age. Many parents are interested in starting to immerse their kids in the world of letters and fluent reading as early as possible. The question arises: how to organize the educational process in such a way that, first of all, it was an educational game? A fun, addictive game with a good base knowledge of the letters of the alphabet. This requires a methodology that allows you to include as many possibilities of perception of a preschooler as possible, such as tactile-sensory perception, fine art, thinking, as well as an educational methodology that links educational areas into a single canvas. nine0003

In autumn, the pre-school department "Goldfish" launched a program of additional education "Mental ABC" called "Cheerful Alphabet". The technique is designed for children of primary preschool age. She very effectively showed that children with disabilities cope well with the pace and amount of knowledge. A group of 15 children is attended by 20% of children with disabilities and one disabled child diagnosed with grade 4 hearing loss, borderline with deafness, with a cochlear implant. The game lesson, due to the dynamics and fascination of tasks, allows children of different levels of development to actively acquire knowledge, treat the letters of the Russian alphabet with great love. nine0003

During classes, you can notice the formation of motivation in children to acquire knowledge. Preschool time is the start of our children's education, and it is very important to cultivate a craving for knowledge. With each lesson, children begin to behave more and more responsibly and with interest. The qualities and skills brought up at a very early age - to work in a team, treat each other with respect and attention - are supported and developed by the "Mental ABC" methodology. One of the main tasks in educating a preschooler is to develop the ability to help a friend, during the “Cheerful Alphabet” classes everyone works together, although each has their own result, but there is no competition, because the main message is to help each other. nine0003

Mental alphabet - what is it?

“Mental ABC “Cheerful Alphabet” is an educational method consisting of several convergent blocks. Classes are organized in the form of a game with the active inclusion of sensory perception, the development of speech and fine motor skills, as well as the education of the ability to creatively rethink information. By the end of the school year, children will gain knowledge about the letters of the Russian alphabet, learn to distinguish between vowels and consonants.

“Mental ABC “Merry Alphabet” is the first part of the methodology that teaches reading.

The next level (or the next academic year) is devoted to folding letters into syllables (“Funny syllables”) and further development of fluent reading (“Funny Books”).

The main difference between modern methods and traditional ones is that the "Merry Alphabet" gives a primary introduction to the letter. For example, when studying the letter "b", children remember the sound and appearance, they are given the idea that it is a consonant. The concepts of hard and soft sounds await children at the second level (“Funny syllables”). The method "Merry Alphabet" is designed for children of three or four years old and children with a special perception of educational processes. nine0003

How the game session goes

The mental ABC “Merry Alphabet” consists of several convergent blocks. The technique is designed to activate thinking, remembering the appearance of the letter and trying to reproduce the spelling. Next come the consolidation of writing, switching perception to creativity and a mobile didactic game-repetition.

The culmination of the lesson, the most active convergent block for brain activity, is writing a letter with a repetition in size change on special erasable cards. The group makes maximum efforts and motivatedly achieves the result. nine0003

There are seven convergent blocks in total, lasting from 5 to 10 minutes. In order for there to be a dynamic transition from block to block, it is necessary to prepare each child's workplace. Before the start of the lesson, there is a complete set.

Carrier pigeon and more

Pupils enter the auditorium and take their places at the table. There is no need for a clear allocation of seats. There is a surprise moment - a carrier pigeon brings a letter with a new letter. Children get to know each other, listen to poems and riddles about a new letter. Repeat the sound aloud. This block activates thinking and listening comprehension. The task is to hear the first letter in the word. nine0003

The next block activates fine motor skills and visual perception. One of my favorite play blocks is magic sand. Each child is given a tablet with fine sand, on which you can write a new letter with your finger, following the teacher's example. If something does not work out, you can easily shake the sand and try to write again. The “Magic Sand” technique is good because there is an initial acquaintance with the structure of the letter. The child freely learns its structure without the task of fitting it into a cage or keeping an even line. This writing system is very well suited for children with disabilities, because it allows you to intuitively choose the size of the letter and thereby gently enter the consciousness and be remembered. nine0003

After getting acquainted with the letter on the magic sand, the task becomes more difficult. Children are offered reusable prescription cards and an erasable felt-tip pen. In the task, you first need to circle the letter along the dotted line, and then enter the letter in a box two centimeters in size. The felt-tip pen has a special pad that allows you to erase inaccuracies and rewrite correctly. Under the cells on the card, a game is offered using the letter that is being passed. For children of three or four years old, writing something in the cells is a very difficult task. Spatially, a two-by-two centimeter cage is a small shape and requires a lot of concentration, but thanks to the playful sensory-tactile perception in the previous stage, it is easy for children to concentrate, collect attention and force their pen to respect the boundaries of the cage. nine0003

When the hardest part is over and brain activity needs rest, the lesson turns into a creative workshop. Tablets, cards, children move to the middle of the table and begin to artistically rethink the letter. Ideas about the appearance of a new letter are fixed through its modeling. According to the assignment, children sculpt the base, rolling out and assembling the shape of the letter, and then, in an arbitrary form, including fantasy, decorate the letter on their own with a mass for sculpting in a contrasting color. Drying, this mass hardens and allows you to collect your personal collection, your alphabet of extraordinary beauty. nine0003

The mental alphabet "Merry Alphabet" gives an opportunity to introduce not only the Russian alphabet. All European alphabets will perfectly fit into the system of familiarization and memorization of letters, even if the teacher does not speak a particular language at a good level. Thus, it is easy and fun to learn with children of three or four years, for example, the Italian alphabet.

The fun didactic game "Magic Bag" completes the lesson, the bag contains all the passed letters. They are an alphabet of different textures, made of different materials, different sizes. The child takes a letter out of the bag by touch, names it and puts the letters into the house, for example, he puts the letter “a” already to the previously pulled out letter “a”. Children have the opportunity to repeat the letters passed earlier, name them and place them correctly in the house. nine0003

Peculiarities of perception

The mental ABC "Cheerful alphabet" is a technique that allows you to work with children of different levels of training and perception. Often, children with disabilities feel lagging behind the main group and lose interest. The "Mental ABC" technique, due to dynamic switching from block to block, from one perception system to another, allows all children to show their abilities every time in a new quality and at a new level. Capturing the maximum number of levels of perception of the child's consciousness, the technique makes it easy and in a playful way to memorize information. nine0003

Working with children using the "Mental ABC" method, you can see pleasing results, supported by positive emotions. In children, the ability to work more purposefully, to show interest in the letters of the Russian alphabet, is brought up perseverance, the ability to creatively design a letter, developing imagination.

“Merry Alphabet” mental alphabet is recognized by many pedagogical communities, which is confirmed by competitive diplomas of the 1st degree.